House Financial Services Committee May Merge SEC And CFTC Into A Single Agency

The House Financial Services Committee issued a new report on Thursday, November 15 suggesting that the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) streamline their operations or possibly be combined into a single agency.

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The suggestion emanates from the criticism that the two agencies failed to communicate sufficiently before the collapse of Jon Corzine’s futures firm MG Global.

Although this is a suggestion by Republicans on the committee, it caused Republican members of farm committees to rush to protect their turf since a merger could mean they would lose jurisdiction over the CFTC and much of the oversight would become the responsibility of banking panels.

Agricultural committee head Frank Lucas said that greater attention should be given to why no one in the MF Global bankruptcy has yet to be held accountable, including Jon Corzine.

Senator Pat Roberts, a ranking member of the Agricultural Committee put the blame squarely on Corzine and blasted the criticism, saying the merger of two regulatory bodies would have had little effect on the situation, nor would it affect a similar future situation.

The merger idea is being resurrected from initial discussions about the Dodd-Frank regulatory legislation. Barney Frank, a lead author on the law and the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee said he would support the merger.

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